The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1887-09-09
TIE PEOPLE oE MEXICO.
How They Appeared to Cincinnatian.
Tho Trade in Mahogany.


The Trade in Mahogany.
From the city of Mexico" says Mr..
d. e. Kline, who has lately been in
Mexico, II went ON to Vera Cruz, and
there took steamer for Minatitlan.
The boat was q clumsy, old fashioned
affair, originally from tho United States.
and made as high as six miles an hour.
But had to stand it without saying O
word. Indeed, the fact is l was speech
less for whole day-had to be, unless ]
chose to talk to myself, for nobody un-
derstood English, and my Castilian was
not of the latest improved accent. We
reached Minatitlan after rough time Of
it, twenty miles of the voyage being up
the Coatzacoalcos river, on the Isthmus
of Tehuantcpec. BY the way, Minatitlan
is the point which Eads proposed as the
eastern terminus of his ship railway. II
contains about 1900 people. and does q
very fair business in cedar, mahogany
and skins. The people are mixture Of
Mexican, or Indian and Spanish. They
look with some contempt on the immi-
grants from CASTLE and Aragon, and
claim to speak purer Spanish than that
heard in Madrid. There were some nice
people in Minatitlan, but there were cer-
tain numerous natives who didn't strike
my civilized fancy with particular favor.
They came in during the week from the
back country, and they were a sight.
They frequently walked forty miles,
bringing their market truck and oysters in
hamper on their backs. The dress of
the men usually consisted of a cotton
shirt and cotton pants, the latter rolled
up to the knee, and rough straw hat.
They wore leather sandals generally.
The women had blankets wrapped about
their waists ard sort of jacket, which
they wore innocently loose. AS often as
not the sleeves were tied about their
necks. with their bare arms and bosoms
exposed to tho hot sun. They would
travel two days journey to sell enough
To bring them thirty-five cents.
"They don't care New Orleans plea.
yune for money down there. and won't
make any effort to accumulate. You
couldn talk thrift to them any more than
you could talk religion. They don't want
either. They are content with mere ami
NAL existence, and that is maintained
without work. Wild fruits will sustain
them nearly all the year round. Their
great staple is 'frijoles'--in other words,
beans. Frequently they make corn
cake, which they call, 'tortilla, and it Is
palatable, although it is made without
salt. 1t is usually about as thin as sheet
of paper, and 1t is passed, when it is meal,
through solution of I've to cut the corn
shell. The people are too lazy to prepare
an elaborate meal--I may say, indeed,
they are too lazy to eat one, were it pre-
pared for them. They won't rob, because
it is too much trouble. Your enterprising
burglar in the United States is man
full of business, and has more to think of
than the average banker. But it is fact
that the native Minatitlans wouldn't run
away with q big bag of Mexican dollars if
it were lying in the street, and nobody
was looking, for it would be an effort to
carry it off, and would involve some
trouble to conceal it. was in q mer-
chants room there when there were
$195, 900 piled up in common sacks and
the only thing done ut night was to lock
the wooden doors with heavy bolts and
let porter sleep-and the Mexicans al
ways sleep-in the court over the way"
This is not Mr. Kline's first visit to
Mexico, and le seems to have been quite
observant and inquisitive. II don't see
how we can have any very intimate rela-
tions with Mexico-they have very little
down there that we want. They look
upon France, Germany and England as
closer to them than the United States,
and all their wooden importations come
from those countries. They fight shy Of
Spain, somehow, and don't regard her as
co sin. A great deal of mahogany goes
to Europe, but big pile comes to Gin
cinnati. The forests are inexhaustiblc,
but they are getting further and further
from the centers OF transportation, and
the Mexicans do not run o railroad aftc-'
something they want, as we hero In tho
United States do. The mahogany trec3
are generally back from the coast and ARD
cut slowly. The logs are dragged by oxen
to some water course and tho freshctJ
arc waited for to float them of to tho
large rivers. They lie in the rivera for o
long time, and very deep down, co thc3
the wood is generally splendidly seasoned
and ripened in color by tho action OF tho
water. We are having no difficulty az
yet in getting all the wood wc want for
the United States, but if there should DO
craze for mahogany as there 10 for oal-,
it might get scarce, and northern enter
prise would hardly revolutionizo tho
methods of those snails in tho backwood1
of Mexico who cut tho beautiful timber.
The hewers are an mcivilizcd race, and
civilized people almost never leave tho
coast and risk the danger Of an inroad
upon them. They are armed to the teeth,
do not seem to be subject to any law,
and, though not quarrelsome, think
nothing of human life. They havo con-
trolled the Mexican forests for centuries,
and will probably maintain control to tho
end of this one. Therefore mahogany
will not be used soon for making kitchen
tables. 49, Cincinnati Commercial Ga
gette.